Umineko no Naku Koro ni, episode 9 – Spiders and Butterflies

Umineko’s a tough show to write about, because there’s so many things that happen in each episode. I’m going to try to keep this post on the shorter side. (edit: I think I failed.)

The events

Rosa blames the servants

The remaining 9 members find Jessica killed and Kanon missing. Because the room was locked, and because the only ones with keys were Jessica and the servants, Rose accuses one or more of them of being the culprit – with the prime suspect being Kanon, since he’s missing.\

Battler, however, refuses to believe that the servants are culpable (although his rationale is pretty terrible). He proves Kanon’s innocence, because Kanon’s key is in Jessica’s pocket, but in doing so becomes cornered into admitting that it doesn’t absolve the rest of the servants, and has no other choice but to accept that they are possible suspects.

Separation and the Wolves and Sheep game

Rosa asks all the servants to leave, leaving the Ushiromiyas altogether and alone in the parlor. While she herself admits that Beatrice could be responsible, she’s more apt to believe that some of the servants may be in cahoots with her. She’s confident that none of the Ushiromiyas are suspects, so by leaving all the servants together, thinks that the wolves may reveal themselves by feasting on the sheep.

Spiders and Butterflies

Left to their own devices, the servants are shocked to find Kanon stumble in injured, accusing Rosa of being the culprit. However, after Dr. Nanjo patches Kanon up, they find that this Kanon is not the real Kanon. He quickly reveals his di-sword and swipes at Shannon, missing, but killing both Nanjo and Kumasawa.

However, Gohda is able to tackle Kanon while he’s off guard, allowing Genji to disintegrate Kanon using a cloth covered with spider webs.

The red truths

Klashkari’s keeping a list on animesuki, which is very helpful if you want to keep track of the red truths for each arc. But for this episode:

The only master keys, keys which can open any door, are the ones each servant holds, one per person. That means there are 5 in total!

There are absolutely no types of hidden doors in this room.

This door is the only way in or out.

The only way to lock this door is with Jessica’s key or the keys held by each servant, one per servant.

The window is also locked from the inside.

Kanon was killed in this room.

When the door is locked, it is impossible to enter or exit through it by any means.

It is also impossible to lock the door from the outside without using a key.

The statements she refuses to repeat are:

Kanon’s corpse is in this room. (She claims she erased the corpse with magic – but this text is not red)

The last time the door was locked, it was by one of the servants’ master keys

The problem for Battler is he can’t tell whether she’s not repeating his statements because they’re false, or because she’s just trying to trick him.

Thoughts and Speculation

The other question is, is the non-red text not red, because it’s not true? Between this and Beatrice’s select red truth statements, it’s clear why Battler’s not sure how to proceed. But let’s take a look at the statements. If we’re to assume magic is not the case, then what does this mean?

The only way in and out is through the door, and the only way to lock or unlock that door is with Jessica’s key or the 5 master keys

This answers, or at least nullifies Battler’s second statement

It also rules out the possibility of duplicates

Kanon is dead, killed in the room. But because his body’s missing, he could have been:

Dumped out the window or dragged out by the killer, who then locked the window and door

Or hidden somewhere in the room. Either way, I don’t think where the corpse is matters.

Kanon and Jessica’s killer has to have the master key or access to it

So Rosa’s accusation is possible. Shannon, Gohda, Genji or Kumasawa are possible culprits. Nanjo then is the sheep in the wolf’s den.

The other possibility is that similar to the key to the chapel, someone could have taken the servants key committed the crime and returned it. However, we need evidence to either support or refute this

Nanjo and Kumasawa are now dead. It’s going to be hard to prove that Shannon, Gohda or Genji are the culprits, unless the scene we saw with Kanon was merely to deceive us.

A thought: I don’t think Rosa read her letter to the table back in episode 7. And she opened Maria’s letter with the key in episode 8. Does she know the contents of the letter?

So what the hell is Battler to do? He doesn’t have enough evidence to prove who killed Kanon or Jessica. And now his list of possible suspects is down to three (four, if you include Beatrice. Five, if you think Rosa’s a culrprit). Eyewitness accounts of who killed Nanjo and Kumasawa may be unreliable, because Gohda, Shannon and Genji are still under suspicion. Argh. The more I think about it, the more I realize there’s not enough evidence yet to prove anything one way or the other.

Like this:

Related

This is why Umineko is interesting. You try to make a sound speculation from very little evidence (red truths) you have.

Don’t worry, the second arc is super difficult in term of making a speculation. It will get better in the following arc with more red truths. Beside, we don’t even understand the rules of the game, do we?

It could still be possible that it was Jessica’s key that locked the door. Here’s a trick that could do that: Jessica’s key is not really Jessica’s key, but just a random key that the killer switched with the real key from her keychain. And with no one bothering to check if Jessica’s key can actually lock the door …

It’s a stretch, but then again it’s not clear how far our speculations can go. Not to mention we know what actually happened. On the other hand, it’s uncertain what actually happened really did happen. Or … Arrgh, my brain hurts! :p

BTW, I also try to keep my own anime posts short at under 700 words, but I always fail spectacularly. X(
.-= Shounen A´s last blog ..Shangri-la 22 =-.